Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians

Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians is set in Symphoria, a world powered by music and the dreams of three sleeping ghosts names Harmony, Melody and Beatbuddy. Unfortunately an evil prince kidnaps Harmony and Melody, and therefore Beatbuddy starts a journey to rescue them. The plot is told in humorous dialogues.

In the core, this is a traditional action-adventure: Beatbuddy floats through the linear levels and has to solve switch/physics puzzles by using his abilities, e.g. carrying objects or dash, or levels elements like a trampoline-like structure which flings Beatbuddy around and allows to destroy weaker structures. In later levels, the puzzles become more complicated. Of course there are also enemies to fight (either by punching them or with a later acquired long-range attack) and painful things to avoid. Beatbuddy has a health bar which decreases when hit, but can be filled with hearts found in containers. Other things to collect are hidden relics and beatpoints on the way which unlock the developer's diary.

However, the unique selling point of the game is its music integration. Every level has its own song and all level elements including enemies move to the beat. Optimally the player does it, too, because it helps with overcoming the obstacles. This is especially evident in the passages in which Beatbuddy uses a vehicle. The game's goal is to make the user feel the music without putting it into the foreground like other dedicated music games.